Seattle City Council meeting 812023

Good afternoon, everybody.

Welcome.

Today is Tuesday, August 1st.

This is a meeting of the Seattle City Council, and I am going to call it to, well, I'm gonna have the clerk call it to order, and my name is Deborah Juarez.

Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Council Member Sawant?

Present.

Council Member Strauss?

Present.

Council Member Herbold?

Council Member Lewis?

Present.

Council Member Morales.

Here.

Council Member Nelson.

Present.

Council Member Peterson.

Here.

Council President Juarez.

Here.

Seven present.

Thank you.

We have a quorum.

Let's move ahead on our agenda.

I am not, excuse me.

I'm not aware of any presentations today.

So as many of you heard, we're going to move to public comment and I kind of shared off the record before we start rolling the cameras.

Madam Clerk, are we still at 45 remote and 50 in person?

We are still at 45 remote, and I'm not sure exactly how many in person.

It's between 30 and 50. Okay.

So this is what we're going to do today.

Public comment is going to be for one hour.

Everyone has one minute.

And let me tell you why we're doing it this way before we, and we can toggle back and forth, Madam Clerk, between remote folks and those who are in chambers.

So on June 30th, there was a community panel and Council Member Salon's committee, and we had 83 minutes of public comment.

Then on July 12th, we had a presentation and a public hearing, and that was 117 minutes of public comment.

And then on July 21st, we had a community panel, and I believe this was the one in Chambers, and we had 99 minutes of public comment, which adds up to 299 or approximately five hours of public comment.

That's why today I'm limiting public comment to one hour if you are speaking to item number three on the agenda and that would be Council Bill 120606 and I should add Thank customers so want that this has been an issue on regarding rent control and of course now we have in front of us a trigger law, and we will let her introduce that when we get there so that is my reasoning for limiting public comment to one hour so right now the time is 204, so we will go till 305. So with that, these are the rules.

You have 1 minute each will toggle between 10 minutes, 10 people in remote 10 people who are in chambers.

We all know what the rules are.

We ask you to speak to the agenda item.

We ask you to be kind, respectful and let other people speak.

I ask that you make sure that Seattle City Council and chambers is a safe place, even for people that you disagree with.

And that's just the right thing to do.

So, with that, madam clerk, you may start.

Linda, are you calling the names of the in-person speakers?

Okay.

Are we ready to go?

We are.

Thank you.

Our first person to speak is Shirley Henderson.

Hi, my name is Shirley Henderson, I'm a renter in Seattle I've been a renter for the last 20 years a small business owner and a worker strike back activists.

I'm here today to stand unequivocally in support of Councilmember so want strong rent control legislation.

Council members may try to obfuscate responsibility by saying this is a trigger law or blaming the state ban, but working people see through these arguments.

We're not stupid.

We know by experience that every time we fight for progressive gains.

Big businesses drag out proclamations of disaster and give excuses like they did with the fight for 15 or the Amazon tax or all of the victories our movements have fought for and won.

Most rental homes are now owned by corporate landlords.

Most corporate landlords are also allegedly engaging in price-fixing, including the company that manages the building our small businesses in.

And even these corporations are actually owned by BlackRock and all of these trillion-dollar Wall Street monsters.

So opposing renters' rights like rent control, Democrats are aiding and abetting these monsters.

And we will see through any no.

Thank you.

The one minute time has expired.

Thank you.

Please be mindful of the timer, everybody.

Thank you.

Linda, do you have the next speaker?

Our next speaker is Kat Ured.

All right.

Hi there.

My name is Kat.

I'm a student and as someone who has to pay rent every month, I've got a few questions for everybody here today.

Why is it so difficult to pass a bill that will protect the working class members of our population who you claim to stand for?

Why do you stand idly by as those who have plenty continue to extort those who have so little?

I'm here in support of council member Sawant's rent control bill and I urge you to do the same in favor of this bill to limit the skyrocketing rents in this city.

I don't see why this is so difficult for all of the Democrats who claim to be here for labor yet obviously are here for those who are oppressing the rest of us.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Peter Donohue.

Hello, my name is Pete Donahue I'm a inside wireman with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and I have lived in Seattle for 35 years, but that time is going to go away, I'm not going to be able to live here any longer.

If we can get some kind of institutional control over the way that we allocate housing and the way that we do rent, and not just for houses, but for businesses, for restaurants, for community spaces, I've watched them all disappear.

So I would just like to speak to any of the holdouts on the committee.

Councilman Strauss, we met at the Carpenters Strike at a picket.

I really appreciate you being there.

for them, and I would ask you to step up now and support this measure.

Thank you.

I yield my time.

Our next speaker is Breaker Chittenden.

Good afternoon, members of the council.

Thank you for this opportunity to speak.

My name is Breaker Chinden.

I'm a renter in Seattle.

I'm also currently a student at Seattle U. I currently am taking out the max possible loan amount to be able to pay for my rent and living expenses.

And last month, my landlord increased my rent by $100 more a month.

I don't know if my loans will be able to keep up.

This bill would mean a step towards curbing the astronomical rise of rents in Seattle.

Council President Juarez, you made a comment recently in response.

I'm aware that this bill, and I believe many are, this bill would have no legal effect unless the state legislature lifts its 42-year-long ban on rent control.

But that doesn't mean that the council passing the bill would serve no purpose.

It would actually mean quite a lot.

It would mean that the City Council and citizens of the most populated city in the state are telling the state legislature that enough is enough.

We need to stop these soaring rent prices and we need to stop them now.

For these reasons, I respectfully ask that the City Council vote in favor of the Council Member Sawant's bill.

I yield the remainder of my time.

Our next speaker is Hans Schiffer.

Hi, my name is Hans Schieffer.

I'm 14 years old, and I'm here to tell you how disappointed I am in your voting to pass a new tree ordinance, except for Mr. Peterson.

This ordinance allows developers to cut down all trees on any lot they get their hands on, even if they're huge exceptional 100 year old trees on that lot.

Please help me understand why you would vote for that.

I know it's not to build houses that are affordable, I can't tell you the last time that I saw a massive tree be taken down and then a house that was built that was under a million dollars.

This is a messed up tree ordinance that favors the developers over people, health, and our climate.

I'm here to remind you that you were elected to serve the people of Seattle, not developers in Bellevue.

Please do the right thing and fix the tree ordinance so that developers must work with big trees, not cut them all down.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Judy Akalaitis.

Hi, everybody.

I'm disappointed you're not here in person to listen to us.

These people are here for the same reason I am here, because of developers.

And I am also here to tell you and ask you, how did you pass such an atrocious tree ordinance?

Shame on you.

It's for the same reason these people are here.

And I want to tell you that tree protection comments outnumber developer comments 10 to 1 at almost every meeting last spring.

But you still went with the developer requests, and the city did not consult with Urban Forestry Commission.

Is it for money?

Is it for trade-offs?

Or are you being bullied?

Because developers can cut down anything on a lot except for 300 trees now with this ordinance.

And are they going to build anything that's affordable?

Are they going to build anything that's rent controlled?

No, they are not.

Shame on you!

Oh, you really don't need to scream, but OK.

Our next speaker is Carolyn Malone.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Who's our next person?

Carolyn Malone.

Carolyn?

I'm Carolyn Malone.

Yesterday I protested with this poster across the street at SPD.

There are photos of colluders with cops who surveilled me at Douglas Truth Library, who harassed me with their blaring sirens about the city and intimidate me with their presence.

Why?

Because of my persistent protest against Seattle Cops occupying space in Chancery Place apartment, apartment 605, Joseph Ellenbosch is just one of the police.

I protest.

For the protest, the building is contaminated now with fentanyl usage, pepper spray, with theft of mail packages, tenant discord.

of eviction for me.

All of these are known activities by Catholic Housing Services.

Flo Bowman, Cherie Robinson.

Cherie Robinson are just two of the ones involved.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Tosi V. Tosi V is the next speaker.

Hi, my name is Josie Ebelher.

I'm a renter in District 3, a member of the Washington Federation of State Employees, Local 889, and an activist with Worker Strike Back.

As has been said and will continue to be said today, voting no on this legislation is siding with corporate greedy landlords and against working people.

There are nearly 11,000 empty apartments in the city, which is more than the number of houseless people in Seattle on any given day.

This is not an issue of supply and demand.

It is an issue of landlords jacking up the prices and forcing people out of the city and out of their homes.

I'm a child welfare social worker and work with many families who desperately need these empty apartments that are just sitting there, but they are out of reach for working families.

These are families with parents working full-time jobs who cannot put a roof over their children's heads.

And it is because of corporate greed being allowed to run this city and the lack of response from Democrats here on city council and at the state level.

We need rent control for working people now.

We need expanded social housing funded by taxing the rich now.

And we need city council members who stand with working people.

So vote yes today on rent control with no corporate loopholes.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Joan Wright.

Good afternoon.

My name is Joan Wright.

I'm a union tech worker with OPIU.

I'm a resident of D3 and an activist with Workers Strike Back.

If City Council Democrats vote no on Councilmember Sawant's strong rent control legislation, they will have made it clear that the Democratic Party is on the side of greedy multimillionaires and billionaire real estate barons.

They're happy to sell out working people, low-income people, poor families, especially those who are black, brown, indigenous, queer.

We're not going to be fooled by the Democrats putting their favorite bait-and-switch tactic where some of them vote yes, but a majority of them vote no.

Contrast that with Green Party candidates for President Cornel West, who issued a press release supporting the rent control legislation.

It's imperative that all Democrats vote yes.

And I encourage everyone here to attend our workers' strike back meeting next week.

What do we want?

Rent control!

When do we want it?

Now!

Our next speaker is Sarah James.

Sarah James, that would be the last speaker in our lot of 10 in person.

Thank you.

Let's go to remote.

Hi, my name is Sarah James, and I'm a workers' right back activist.

It looks like our first remote speaker will be Allison Yates.

Go ahead, Allison.

We have somebody at the podium speaking.

I believe that's Sarah James.

Oh, she came.

Okay.

Okay.

We can't hear her on the Zoom.

Okay.

Sarah James, can you start again?

Jodi's starting your timer.

Thank you.

Sarah James, go ahead.

If Council Democrats vote no on Swan Strong rent control, they have made it clear that they are on the side of greedy landlords who are allegedly price-fixing and not on the side of working families trying to keep a roof over their heads.

You sit here and twiddle your thumbs hiding behind a state ban when you know that this will put pressure on the state Democrats to lift the ban.

My daughter is here.

She's 11 years old.

She came here not because I wanted her to, but because she has had friends who have been priced out of this city.

She has had friends who have dealt with homelessness.

Democrats party's inaction and pandering to corporate landlords and billionaires is why children sleep on the street in Washington and Washington state is considered a tax haven for the wealthy.

It is clear that working people need our own party and that the Democrats don't represent our interests.

Please come to the workers strike back meeting on August 7th and discuss how to build a renters movement independent from the democratic party and how to support EPS workers in voting no and getting a strong contract.

Thank you.

We'll now switch to the remote speakers.

And our first remote speaker is Allison Yates.

And Allison will be followed by Charlotte Thistle.

Allison?

OK.

Hello.

My name is Allison Yates.

I'm a landlord and small business owner.

Rent control has unintended consequences that worsen the landscape for landlords and especially tenants.

Studies have shown us this.

Actual science.

It distorts markets and pushes out small landlords, the majority of whom make less than $75,000 per year, just like me.

Rising rents aren't actually the problem.

They're a symptom of a bigger economic issue, a supply and demand problem.

Rent control will not address this issue, and in fact, worsens it.

Thousands of small landlords like me will absolutely exit the market, reducing rental inventory.

The Brookings Institute reported rent control as, quote, counterproductive.

I applaud you for wanting the right outcome, but you're going about it in exactly the wrong way.

If you believe science, and if you really care about protecting tennis, you must vote no.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Charlotte Thistle, and Charlotte will be followed by Jennifer Lakeish.

Go ahead, Charlotte.

I got my ticket for Portland, and I'm taking my low rental with me.

Oh, yes, they have some similar laws, but they have an exemptions clause for owner-occupied property.

That's me.

Yes, they've got rent control, but it's CPI plus 7 with exemptions for new occupancy.

And they allow tiny homes to be used as ADUs, That's how they're increasing density when we're gone.

Grassroots landlords in Seattle.

You're gonna miss us when we're gone.

You're gonna miss our human touch.

You're gonna miss us oh so much.

You're gonna miss us when we're gone.

Vote no to protect grassroots rentals in Seattle.

Thank you Charlotte for that lovely tune.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Jennifer Lakish, and Jennifer will be followed by Leo Polank.

Go ahead, Jennifer.

My name is Jennifer Lakish.

I'm a past renter, current landlord, and a regular hardworking person.

I own rental properties in Districts 3 and 7. Do the right thing and vote against rent control.

This bill wants to peg rental increases to a cost of living increase of roughly 3%.

The rental costs are pegged to the cost of expenses and not the cost of living.

My property tax has increased by 21% last year, and backflow testing went from $55 to $70, which is a 27% increase.

These are city-imposed fees.

The problem is rising costs, which should be addressed.

This bill also prevents property owners from reducing rental units in their properties.

For example, if I rent a mother-in-law apartment in my house, then I have to rent the apartment indefinitely, which is a problem as I may want to have my single family home without the apartment as my family grows or I have a lifestyle change.

This bill is a bad idea.

Please do not vote for it.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Leo Polank.

Leo will be followed by Randy Bennett.

Go ahead, Leo.

Yeah, thank you.

Okay.

I'm a small-time landlord.

I'm going to skip some of the intentionally polarizing comments about landlords that have been made by the sponsor of the proposal and just address some key issues.

A recent article in the Seattle Times made it clear that most renters can easily afford the average rent, so this proposal will mostly benefit those who don't need it.

This proposal will discourage rental housing construction and will do nothing for the homeless.

The $5 million needed to create the rent control boards could be better spent to keep people from becoming homeless.

Like many small landlords, many of my tenants are paying well below market rents.

To avoid the risk of getting permanently locked into those low rents, I will either raise them all to a market level, or I'll have to sell my properties to developers.

This will be an immediate outcome of passing this proposal.

I could go on, but our city council representatives already know this proposal is designed to ruin the Seattle housing market.

The only real question here is their integrity to tell the truth.

Please vote no on this proposal.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Randy Banneker, and Randy will be followed by Bruce Becker.

Go ahead, Randy.

Council President Juarez and members of the Council, my name is Randy Banneker.

I'm here on behalf of the Seattle King County Realtors.

Thanks for the opportunity to comment on the proposed rent control legislation.

We urge you to reject the proposal because rent control is not a sustainable solution to housing affordability.

Housing is expensive because we don't have enough of it relative to jobs.

Make housing more affordable, we need more houses and we need more apartments.

Rent control will chill new rental housing production and give small mom and pop rental housing owners another reason to get out of the business and join the 6,500 people who've already recently stopped renting their properties.

Diminished supply will make housing more expensive.

Rent control has failed in every market where it exists.

We need to bring the supply of rental and for sale housing units in balance with demand to avoid increasingly expensive housing.

The coming comprehensive plan update is an important opportunity and vehicle to do just that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Bruce Becker and Bruce will be followed by Isaac Miller.

Go ahead, Bruce.

Hi, my name is Bruce Becker.

This rent control bill is bad execution of a bad policy.

There's an editorial page column in the Seattle Times today that explains why and what can be done.

This bill is not sustainable.

I've looked up four houses rented in 1940 and adjusted the 1940 rents to 2023 using the consumer price index.

Then I compared the rents to 2023 property taxes.

Property taxes are 58 percent of the rent on one house, which is truly unsustainable.

The other houses' taxes were 79% of rents, 96% of rents, and 98% of rents adjusted to the 2023 rents.

This is a perfect example of why this bill cannot work.

Please vote against this bill.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Isaac Miller.

Excuse me.

And Isaac will be followed by Emily MacArthur.

Go ahead, Isaac.

Hello, my name is Isaac.

I'm a renter in District 4. Yeah, I called in last time this was on the floor.

I'm an activist with Orchard Strike Back.

It sounds like all the same landlords are all here saying exactly the same, just boneheaded.

stupid ideas, like completely refuted last time we were here.

Just to remind everyone, after that session, Debra Juarez called us all too stupid to understand what we were saying, and then Andrew Lewis said we should go back to the state or something, which is exactly what the state told us not to do.

The state told us to try and pass this at a local level, which they all know.

They're all just trying to give us the runaround.

Yeah, I think it's clear that Democrats just don't support working people in Seattle.

If you support working people in Seattle, then I wouldn't vote for any of these people.

I'll yield the rest of my time.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Emily MacArthur.

And Emily will be followed by Shubham Kukuruban.

Emily, go ahead.

Hi, my name is Emily.

I'm a lifelong renter and a worker strike back activist And it takes three union jobs to pay the rent on a house I live in in South Seattle.

Since the 2008 economic crisis, landlords are predominantly Wall Street corporations with shareholders to appease.

BlackRock, Vanguard, et cetera, are siphoning exorbitant rents out of our communities to pay for Wall Street CEOs, golden parachutes, and stock buybacks with illegal price fixing.

71% of Seattleites support rent control.

And rent control that is strong, like Council Member Solange's bill, is work.

Um, it's outrageous that these so called labor Democrats like Council Member Lewis and Council Member Mosqueda are not standing publicly with council members who want to vote for and fight for rent control.

If they vote against this legislation, they should be voted out and labor should not support their campaigns.

It's ridiculous that Mosqueda is absent, that she couldn't even be bothered to find a few minutes in her day to stand with working class people and renters We demand all Democrats vote yes, and if they don't, then they will expose themselves as shills for Wall Street corporations.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Shubhan Kukkaruban, and he will be followed by Arish Hakim.

Go ahead, Shubhan.

Shubhan.

I don't know if he's, I think he's, I don't think he's unmuted.

We can come back.

Okay.

We will come back.

Yeah.

Let's, uh, let's move on to is Arish Hakeem online.

A R E E J Arish.

I don't see that.

Hi, I'm, I'm Arish.

I'm a renter in Seattle.

I have been struggling with housing insecurity for about four years.

Elected officials are obligated to serve the people.

That is why you are elected.

Please vote yes for rent control.

It sounds like every landlord who spoke probably paints over mold.

All of the costs to even get an apartment are so ridiculous.

First, last, and then a deposit.

Landlords are even scamming people and charging people $300 for an application fee, and then people don't even get the place.

This is just so ridiculous.

It is absurd.

And if you can't do your civic duty, you shouldn't have this job.

Pick a different job.

I give up the rest of my time.

Thank you.

I believe Shubhan Kukaruban is now unmuted.

Shubhan?

Well, actually, this is Sonia Pona.

Oh, I see that.

OK, hold up.

We didn't call on us, Sonia, yet.

Yeah.

Sorry about that.

So I see Shubhan is unmuted.

So OK.

Sorry.

Yeah.

OK.

Let's go to the next number.

Okay, yeah, it looks like he's speaking, but nothing's coming out.

So, sorry about that.

Our next speaker signed up remotely, and this would be our last, this would our 10th speaker remotely, and we'll switch back to in-person, is Kevin Vitswong.

Kevin?

Kevin?

You may have to press star six to unmute your phone on your end.

Look, I don't see Kevin's tile up here.

I show it online.

You do?

Kevin, are you there?

Well, let's come back to him.

Let's go back to in-person, and then we'll start back where we left off on remote.

Does that work?

Good idea.

Sure.

Thank you.

Linda, go ahead.

Our next in-person speaker is Sasha Summers.

Hi, my name is Sasha.

I'm a renter in the Central District and an activist with Workers Strike Back.

Councilmember Mosqueda calls herself a progressive and a labor Democrat, and yet she could not bother to show up for a vote that is of so much consequence to working class people and poor people.

Yeah, scheduling conflicts happen, but come on, all you needed to do was show up in Zoom for a few minutes for the vote.

Mosqueda led the way in repealing the pandemic hazard pay for grocery workers, but she didn't even bother to show up to vote on our rent control law.

Why should union members and working people support Mosqueda's election campaign if she won't speak in support of this bill and doesn't bother to show up to vote yes?

And that goes for all of the council members that want to call themselves progressive or labor Democrats.

Lewis, Herbold, Morales, we're watching your vote.

Yeah.

We are ready to fight.

Housing is a human right.

We are ready to fight.

Housing is a human right.

We are ready to fight.

Housing is a human right.

We are ready to fight.

Housing is a human right.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Amitri Dutee.

Amitri Dutee.

Hello, Seattle.

My name is Amrita.

I came to Seattle in the summer of 2012 with a 100K job.

In between student loans, mounting healthcare costs, and continuing education because I'm never good enough, I have no savings.

Currently, I am in between jobs and I cannot afford housing.

I am homeless.

I'm here from wheels.

That's enough about me.

Now, let's fall back on some data.

New York City's biggest housing boom was during the times of strictest rent controls.

With that, we can agree to pass the rent control bill with no amendments.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Amitra Freeman.

Amitra Freeman.

Jody, you can start the timer.

I didn't hear my name called, but I know I'm next on the list.

Okay.

My name is Anitra.

I'm also from Wheel, along with Amrita.

Council Member Juarez, if you're tired of listening to us, just vote yes.

We can't wait for Olympia.

You know that if Olympia gets around to statewide rent control, it will be so watered down and weakened and full of loopholes that it will accomplish very little.

And then they will say, see, we told you it wouldn't work.

You know how politics works.

We need to set a good example for this whole state.

support real rent control and prove that it does work.

Don't artificially restrict the supply.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Matthew Bogert.

Matthew Bogert.

It doesn't look like Matthew's coming up to the podium, so we'll go to the next speaker, who is Jessica.

Okay, Matthew, come on.

We're ready.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Can you hear me?

Jody, start the timer.

Thank you.

We can.

In 2020, almost three quarters of Washingtonians were in favor of rent control.

It is likely higher now, and Council Member Sawant has given us the opportunity to catalyze that in Olympia through our policy.

And instead, this absence and the tendency to vote no shows the allegiance with the corporations like BlackRock and Vanguard.

And it's not like Seattle is scared of people.

We displace our most vulnerable populations, the homeless, people of color, to great scales.

In 2022, we conducted over 900 sweeps of encampments.

800 of those were unannounced.

Where is the humanity in that?

And you don't even have the spine to stand up to these corporate landlords.

Shame on you.

We are watching your vote.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Jessica Scalzo.

Jessica Scalzo.

Hi, my name is Jessica.

I am a renter in District 3, soon to be District 2, unfortunately.

Thank you, Shama, for being here in person.

This is the first time I've been back in person in three years, and it's very strange to not even see people on camera.

And Louis, I saw you today, and I would like to see your face.

It's unfortunate that I can't see you here as well.

The question is, are we voting for rent control for working people today, or are we voting for rent control for wealthy corporate landlords?

Because either way, it's going to be one or the other.

So it's not a vote that has no consequences.

The arguments about, well, we can't do it because there's a ban in Washington are like, it's just not a motivation to get things done.

We gotta start here, start locally, think globally.

That will put pressure on other cities to do the same and put pressure on Washington to get rid of the ban.

And the people I spoke to in my apartment building are for rent control, please pass it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Michael Kakai.

Michael Kakai.

Okay, I don't see Michael.

Our next person is Daniel Boyd.

Daniel Boyd, are you here?

Okay, the next speaker is Grant Rasmussen.

Having trouble hearing the announcements in the back.

I'm Dan.

Can you please state your name, sir?

Can you please state your name?

My name is Daniel Boyd.

Thank you.

Go ahead, Mr. Boyd.

Is this mic working?

Is either mic working?

Yes, we can hear you, sir.

I'm Daniel Boyd.

I'm a native Seattleite.

My first apartment was in Wallingford.

My next apartment was on Queen Anne.

After that, I moved to the U District.

I have been operating entry-level, modest apartments in Seattle for the last 40 years.

This is the segment of the market you should be encouraging and nurturing.

That's where we need more capacity.

rent control will stifle any development in that market.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Grant Rasmussen.

Grant Rasmussen.

Go ahead, Grant.

Hello.

I'm here as a renter advocating.

My name is Grant Rasmussen.

I'm advocating on behalf of Rent Control.

I think it's really telling who's here in City Hall today, the people who are in the building here.

It's landlords on Zoom, guys.

We're here in person.

If you guys on the City Council are supposed to be our representatives, you should represent the people who are in City Hall right now.

That's who you should represent because it's a little silly to show up to a meeting and only one representative is actually in the room.

We need rent control right now.

My rent went up.

Whose rent just went up?

What do we want?

Our next speaker is David Haynes.

David Haynes.

Mr. Haynes.

Go ahead and start the timer, Jody.

Are you my way?

Did you say David Haynes?

I'm sorry, did you?

Here is a resident and former small business owner in Chinatown International District.

Folks saying that we can afford the rent don't pay rent.

They aren't the seniors on Social Security.

We need rent control to save our district, which is on the top 10 for endangered places in America.

Without rent control, the $1,300 maximum allowance for Social Security and disability stipend will be spent entirely on rent.

Chinatown International District seniors are the heart of our neighborhood.

Our sweet Asian seniors can't afford to make rent and eat.

Our grandmas and grandpas can't fight cancer and pay for their meds.

We have fought through Japanese internment and COVID and anti-Asian hate.

Rent control will save our neighborhood.

Excuse me, can you please let us know what your name is?

That last person that came up to the podium.

Next speaker is David Haynes.

We live in a greedy, immoral financial system of non-working shareholder middlemen that requires a true democracy legislative pen to keep the greed in check so that it benefits the commonwealth.

Instead, we have a political class that's capitulating to the corporate class that are doing the bidding of the big banks and speculators, shaking down the exploited, oppressed working class, forced to pay the tax base, and double, triple remortgages of rundown rentals that are flawed, obsolete, and in violation of their 21st century, first world quality building codes.

We need to investigate the banks artificially inflating the cost of living and force them to retire the debt on all these small businesses being shaken down, forced to turn against their workers just to make ends meet so that we can do a debt service police state for the non-working shareholder in our immoral financial systems tools.

Maybe we need a renters revolt, a property tax value taken off and stimulate the savings for 21st century housing build-outs and use also legislation to force them

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Jonathan Rosenblum.

Thank you.

Jonathan Rosenblum.

Good afternoon.

I wish I could see more of you.

Jonathan Rosenblum, member of the National Writers Union.

I'm with Workers Strike Back and also a District 2 homeowner.

Today's vote is straightforward.

Will you stand with renters or with big business?

But don't take that just from me.

After the July 21st committee meeting, the main landlord lobby group called the Democrats' vote against rent control, quote, an important win for the housing industry and a sizable setback for tenant advocates, end quote.

And who is this industry?

It's landlords like Essex, with profits last year of $408 million.

Avalon Bay, $1.1 billion.

Equity, $807 million.

Democrats we don't know today are siding with billionaires, not renters.

We know that.

So do our opponents.

The choice is clear.

Pick a side, and we see you.

Thank you.

We're now ready to move on to the remote speakers.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Thank you.

Our first remote speaker is Kari Cosden, and Kari will be followed by Shubham Kukuruba.

Kari, go ahead.

I'm Kari Cosden, and I'm an affordable housing provider.

Some people do struggle to afford rent in Seattle, but this bill will not help them.

It will make it worse, because non-corporate owners with affordable units will leave the market Builders will not build rental housing in Seattle, and people who live in existing rent-controlled housing will not move.

Affordable units will not be available to people who really need them.

It will not lower rent.

Rent control primarily helps existing high-income tenants.

Someone says rent control has no effect on rental supply, but she is wrong.

This bill is unprecedented, and new construction is not exempt, and there's no real estate provision to recoup costs for repairs and improvements.

Renters love the idea of rent control because who doesn't want predictable rent increases?

But we really need to lower barriers to building, encourage micro-housing, and provide monetary support to renters who really need it.

Just because something is popular doesn't mean it's a good idea.

This rent control bill is a bad idea.

Please don't vote for it.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Shubhan.

And Shubhan will be followed by Kevin Vitswong.

Go ahead, Shubhan.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

I'm Siobhan Kugaruba, and I'm an activist with Workers Strike Back.

I'm speaking in support of Council Member Sawant's rent control bill, which will prevent out-of-control rents, but will not affect small landlords who don't gas their tenants.

This type of strong rent control law, with no corporate loopholes, has been proven to work.

If the rent control bill fails, the blame lies with the entire Democratic Party, including the self-described progressives.

Has a single progressive or Labor Democrat helped our movement fight for rent control?

Unfortunately, the answer to this is a resounding no, and this is despite Council Member Sawant's office, rank-and-file union members, organizations like Real Change and Tennessee Union in Washington, and renters asking again and again for Democrats' support.

If Democrats want no, we are forced to ask what use to working people of the Democratic Party if they will actively participate in letting a strong rent control bill fail and actively enable some of the most rapacious Wall Street billionaires.

We need a new place for working.

Thank you.

It looks like you've dropped off.

Our next speaker is Kevin Vitswong, and Kevin will be followed by Richie Tai.

Go ahead, Kevin.

Thanks.

My name is Kevin Vitswong.

I'm a renter in the Central District and an organizer with Worker's Strike Back.

Rent control is a common sense measure.

It will prevent out-of-control rent increases that renters have been facing and speaking against for decades, and it will not affect the small landlords who don't gouge their tenants with rent increases higher than the rate of inflation.

Skyrocketing rents and mortgage payments are an instance of profiteering by trillion dollar banks and investment firms like BlackRock and Vanguard.

Their corporations are driving up prices simply because they can.

And by gatekeeping rent control at the state level and sitting on their hands here in Seattle, Democrats have enabled corporate landlords to price gouges out of our homes for decades.

Now, why should we vote for you again?

The idea that rent control will drive down housing availability is a myth, just like the myth that $15 minimum wage would hurt jobs back in 2015. Seattle is still in a construction boom, but most new units are in luxury mid- and high-rise buildings that are designed to maximize profits on high and rising rents.

So we need to win both rent control without loopholes and an expansion of social housing by increasing the Amazon tax.

We need representatives who, instead of ignoring us, stand with us unambiguously, just like Cornel West, who wrote in support of a rent control fight earlier this week.

So I encourage everyone fighting for renters' rights to keep organizing and attend the Strike Back

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Ritchie Tai and Ritchie will be followed by Hillary Rose.

Go ahead, Ritchie.

Hi, my name is Ritchie Tai.

I urge council members vote yes on rent control.

I've been a Seattle renter here since 2014 and currently in District 6. I'm also a member of Alphabet Workers Union PWA Local 9009 and a worker strike back activist.

Landlords have come and told you that a grant control won't work, so here's some studies.

A 2007 study by David Sims, a 2014 study by Autor, Palmer, and Patzak, a 2015 study by Diamond, McQuaid, and Ken, and 2018, these studies looked at rent control in Massachusetts, in New Jersey, in San Francisco, and found that they did not decrease housing construction, did not decrease housing availability, and studies that do show how it impacts housing availability are because of non-comprehensive rent control, things like rent decontrol when tenants move out.

70% of Washington, over 70% of people in Washington support rent control, and if you claim

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Hillary Rose.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Go ahead, Council President.

I just want to remind people, especially those calling in, I just really hate cutting you off, but please mind the ding when you hear it, that you have 10 seconds to wrap things up because we're going to stop public comment.

We're going to stop right around 3.05.

So go ahead, Madam Clerk.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Hillary Rose, and Hillary will be followed by Scott Sorensen.

Go ahead, Hillary.

Hillary?

I see her on the call.

Maybe she has to press star six to unmute her phone.

Yeah, I don't, oh yeah, she's, there you go.

There you go.

Yeah, we can hear you.

Okay, sorry.

Sorry, okay.

So I'm Hillary Rose.

I have a master's degree and I've maintained my employment throughout my time in Seattle.

Despite this, I have experienced homelessness.

I am now in district eight, formerly district two.

The cost of living in Seattle is 50% higher than the national average.

Rent control measures have been successful in other major cities, New York and Los Angeles, so the argument that rent control is harmful is obviously a lie.

As of July 2023, the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Seattle is close to $2,000 a month.

To afford a one-bedroom in Seattle, a renter would need to make over $72,000 per year.

Minimum wage workers in Seattle make under $39,000 per year.

In a survey of unhoused people in Seattle, 20% said that they were currently employed at the time of the survey.

25% attributed their housing situation exclusively to the lack of affordable housing.

Your constituents, those you serve, are being displaced by corporations and foreign investors.

As a self-proclaimed progressive city, Seattle needs to live up to its promises.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Scott Sorensen, and Scott will be followed by Oshel Berman.

Go ahead, Scott.

Thank you.

I am a small landlord in Seattle and own affordable housing and market rate units.

Rent control is probably the most destructive thing that you can possibly do to renters.

I've had the unfortunate pleasure of owning in both Seattle Los Angeles and Santa Monica, and I can tell you firsthand that it is completely destructive and counterintuitive.

It's truly basic Econ 101 of supply and demand.

And when you hinder new supplies, which rent control does, it really messes up rents and is detrimental to the renter.

40 costs of construction is attributable to government regulation, as well as our real estate taxes in Seattle have amounted to roughly...

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Osho Burman, who will be followed by Luke Wigrin.

Osho?

Thank you.

I'm a low-income housing provider who's proud to say that I've housed probably hundreds of previously homeless individuals with stable and affordable housing here in Seattle.

I'm also proud to be able to say that I offer very affordable rents, and still do.

In fact, I've had units that are available and have been available over the course of the last month, which I've been unable to fill, that are listed at $1,190.

That's not that unreasonable, it's not that unaffordable, and it's right in the middle of North Seattle.

The problem with this proposed legislation, besides being totally unfair to housing providers, is it does not at all address the root cause of our housing cost increases.

It's a colorful Band-Aid at best that may win a few votes for those in office.

As a housing provider, our costs have skyrocketed, greatly exceeding the CPI.

As we all know, CPI is a generic broad-based inflationary measure, which does not reflect our specific housing costs.

We incur as housing providers.

So why in the world would we that peg our increases that we can make to those CPI numbers that don't reflect our actual costs, forcing landlords to effectively provide housing.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Luke Wigrin, and Luke will be followed by Ida Cater.

Luke.

Luke, District 3. Opponents of rent control make two contradictory claims.

One, that they have the best data, and two, when we call their data into question for being outdated, flawed, and biased, that they need more data.

Well, if it's more data they want, why did the mayor and corporate Democrats vote to kill CB120325?

The bill would have made landlords open their books and report what they are charging us.

Is it truly such an onerous task, as they argue?

I've never, ever heard a landlord complain about reporting these numbers to the bank.

Or is it, as one might suspect, that if Seattle found out just how much the landlords are raking in off the backs of working people, a ban on rent control wouldn't be nearly enough.

They'd have to ban pitchforks, too.

Get together.

and do a rent strike if the vote doesn't pass.

Thank you, Luke.

Our next speaker is Ida Cater and Ida will be followed by David Oldham.

My name is Ida Cater in District 5. Do not move forward with rent control.

Rent control is well studied and it has failed in every city in which it has been attempted.

by reducing housing stock, the exact opposite of what we need in this housing crisis.

Rent control is short-sighted and will cause long-term damage to Seattle.

You think landlords will sit idly by and stick around for this ill-advised one-sided proposal?

They will simply divest and exit the market.

That means less housing is inevitable from this proposal, and renters will lose out yet again.

Housing is a network.

You need to work with renters and landlords, big and small, to find a solution.

Council, please try to address the root causes of the housing crisis.

Then try to pass a colorful, not to mention illegal, Band-Aid that will make our housing crisis even worse.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is David Oldham, and David will be followed by Aidan Carroll.

David, go ahead.

Hi, I'm a disabled landlord of just one property.

50% of landlords use property managers.

100% of all disabled landlords use property managers.

Otherwise, we lose our SSDI benefits.

The average cost to renewal lease is 4.2 for each renewal using a property manager.

This doesn't include management fees, rising taxes, maintenance fees, or nonpayments.

The rate of inflation wouldn't cover all these costs.

Disabled landlords or seniors don't get tax breaks on our rental properties.

nor do we get discounts renting to low-income tenants.

Currently, my property is renting at $1,000 below the comparable rentals in Seattle.

This bill would permanently take this house off the market if this bill passes, along with every other landlord in my situation.

According to Harvard's research, California has a mass exodus of 1.2 million low-income rentals from 2019 to 2021, when the strict laws of these rentals off of the market Do we want this to happen to Seattle?

The data shows rent control decreases supply and raises rental rates.

Thank you.

Our last remote speaker is going to be, well, it looks like Aiden Carroll is no longer present.

So our last remote speaker will be Jessica Dyson.

Jessica?

Jessica?

I think we'll move on to a different, I'm not seeing her on live.

Sonia Pona, is Sonia available?

That will be our last remote speaker, please.

I see Sonia.

There you go.

Great.

Hi.

Hi.

Hi, this is Sonia Pona.

I'm a homeowner, a landlord, and an activist with Worker's Pride Back.

I support this legislation with no corporate loopholes.

And I see the landlords are out today with their tired talking points that are all lies.

According to the developers industries own figures, Seattle's apartment vacancy rate today stands at 6.3%.

That's close to 11,000 empty apartments because the rent is too damn high.

And Wall Street economists themselves have been forced to admit that the massive cost of living crisis is at least partly the result of corporations raising profits simply because they can't.

No one is stopping them.

Rent control can help stop this race to the bottom.

I was also stunned to hear that most of these corporate landlords are also allegedly engaging in price fixing, and that in reality, these corporations are really owned by BlackRock and Vanguard and others.

So by opposing rent control, you really are aiding and abetting the rich and powerful, not the people in your district.

You should vote for this, even if you actually call yourself a progressive.

And I'm looking at you, Council Member Lewis.

Thank you.

That completes our remote speakers.

And it looks like we have about five more minutes where we can take a few more in-person council chamber speakers.

Perfect.

Let's do that.

Let's get these guys up there.

Our next person, in-person speaker is Kiana Daly.

Kiana.

Can you hear me now?

Yeah.

Rent control is as essential as the minimum wage or air conditioning for survival in today's economy.

It will lower the rate of growth of property taxes because property values will not rise as quickly.

The side effects of upzoning are countered by rent control and vice versa.

It is essential that they be paired together because it will prevent non-profit and social housing providers from being outbid and bid higher through the speculative bubble not rising as massively quick.

On the contrary, any side effects of rent control reducing incentives to build will be countered, more than countered, by the upzoning we already need.

Look, Dan Strauss, I canvassed for you four years ago.

I wrote in Sonny Rao for the primary this time.

I see what the math is tonight.

A lot of us on the left don't really feel like there's a difference right now.

Maybe some of the Lewis people are feeling the same way.

We need rent control.

We all know somebody who has died of homelessness.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next person up is Dean Kabuto.

Mr. Kabuto?

Dean Cabuto.

For some reason he skipped me and people who are speaking were behind me on the sign up list.

My name is Mark Taylor Canfield.

We called the person that should be speaking is Dean Cabuta.

Let's go with the sign up sheet please.

Did I get taken from the list because I was already supposed to be speaking.

What was your name sir.

I don't believe you came up when you were called, but let's move on to Dean Cabuto.

Thank you.

I'm kind of daily.

You called me like two people ago or something.

I haven't spoken yet.

Should I let him go first or?

We're following the list, and the next person is Dean Kabuta.

If Mr. Kabuta is not there, we'll do my time.

You said my name.

No.

Yeah, you called my name and someone was already speaking, so I had to wait.

Can I speak?

OK, just hold on.

Just let the clerk do her job.

Madam Clerk, is Mr. Kabuta there?

If she was here in person, it'd probably be easier for her.

I'm right.

OK.

Dean Cabuto is not showing up so we'll move on to the next person.

Mark Taylor Canfield.

Mark.

Yes.

Right there was a Kiana Daly and we have her marked as speaking.

Can President Juarez can can can this constituent please speak because she's saying.

Sure.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yes.

Let's let the clerk do her job first and if we need to add allow that we will.

So let's let's let her do her job.

Go ahead.

The next speaker is Dean Kibbuta.

In lieu of Mr. Kibbuta not speaking, well, Kiana Daly.

Okay, to keep this going, since I know we only have one minute left, I'm just gonna start speaking now.

No, we're not, uh-uh, no.

My name is Kiana Daly, and I've been a Seattle resident- Shut it down.

No, we're not doing this.

We're not doing this.

Madam Clerk, we will give people an opportunity.

Just hold on.

Let the clerk do her job.

Madam Clerk, if this individual's not here, then we'll go to the next person.

And the other people that want to speak, if I need to extend the time to allow that, I will do that.

Just wait.

Madam Clerk, go ahead.

The next speaker is Mark Taylor Canfield.

Mr. Taylor Canfield, go ahead.

And if we need to extend public comment five more minutes, we will do that.

Stop it now.

We're not doing this.

We're not.

You're going to follow the rules.

And if we have to go to recess because you're holding it up, because you can't wait your turn, then we will do that.

Let's let Mr. Canfield talk.

Madam Clerk, do we have Mr. Canfield teed up?

We've also reached the one hour allotment.

Yeah, we're at one hour in it.

Sounds like it's gotten a little bit.

President Juarez, it's just a one minute public comment.

Just let her speak.

I'm going to in a moment, Council Member Sawant.

But what I'm trying to do is let the clerk finish the list.

And if we need additional time, we will do that.

It will happen, I promise.

But she's already on the phone.

It doesn't matter.

I am not going to do that.

I'm going to follow the clerk.

Madam Clerk, who is next?

Are they there next person was mark taylor canfield?

I believe he went to the podium, but I could not hear him Okay, let's let mr. Canfield speak and then we'll extend public comment for the other individuals Mr. Canfield So i'm the next person to speak my name is mark taylor canfield i'm a journalist and musician in seattle and uh I'd like to give part of my time to her, but first I want to make this one comment.

I also serve as executive director for Democracy Watch News.

Well, I woke up this morning, couldn't pay the rent.

I didn't know where the money went.

You gotta give me some rent control.

You gotta give me some rent control.

You gotta give me some rent control.

The rents are too damn high.

Well, I went to bed, couldn't sleep at all.

It's waiting for that eviction call.

I need to rent control.

I need to rent control.

I need to rent control.

This man's too damn hot.

Is Mr. Canfield done singing?

I think that's pretty clear.

All right.

So let's let the other individual speak.

The last person, Kiana Daly.

I'm just trying to be respectful.

I just want to let you know my name wasn't on the list.

My name is kind of daily.

It's been said before.

I'm a Seattle renter.

I've been renting here my entire adult life.

I just want to ask a couple questions.

Do you go to the grocery store?

Do you get coffee in the morning?

Do you like to go out to eat?

Do you like to go to the movies?

Those people doing those jobs deserve to afford a place to live.

This Seattle landlord...

sitting next to them, they're laughing, talking about how they were just going to flee Seattle if we pass this bill.

We don't want to flee Seattle.

We're trying our hardest to not.

We want to live here.

We want to afford to live here.

We are fully aware this is just a trigger law.

We know that if you pass and say yes today, we're not going to get rent control 100%.

We know this.

We just want to say how much we are begging you at this point to please vote yes.

Please push these boundaries.

Councilmember Lewis, as you said before, you want to push these boundaries.

We need to do this.

If you care about people who produce the labor, we deserve a place to live.

Thank you.

All right.

Do we have, is there anyone else?

Just briefly, Madam Clerk, are we okay?

We're okay.

We've got a lot more to go, but we've reached our time limit on public comment that you gave us.

Thank you.

We are done with that.

And as I shared earlier, we've had five hours collectively of public comment, and now we just had another hour and five, so actually six hours and five minutes of public comment regarding item number three.

So with that, I'm closing public comment.

I want to thank those of you that, particularly those of you that sang.

No, we're done.

Public comment is closed.

Shut down the mic.

I do not want to have to do this.

We are done with public comment.

So with that, Madam Clerk, let's move on into our agenda.

And I want to thank those that came to downtown Seattle and came into chambers and those of you that called.

I know this is a very important issue for you, and I want to thank you for giving public comment here today.

All right, let's move on on our agenda, Madam Clerk.

So adoption of the introduction and referral calendar, there's no objection.

The introduction and referral calendar will be adopted.

Not hearing or seeing an objection, it is indeed adopted.

Madam, Councillor Swann.

Public comment is closed.

We've had over six hours of public comment on this matter.

So we're moving on in our agenda.

Next, we have adoption of the agenda.

There's no objection.

The agenda will be adopted.

Not seen or hearing an objection.

The agenda is adopted.

Moving on to the consent calendar.

We will now consider the consent calendar.

These are the items on today's consent calendar.

We have the minutes from July 25th, 2023. We have the payroll bill, Council Bill 120627. And we have four reappointments to the Seattle Music Commission recommended by the Economic Development Technology and City Light Committee.

That would be Council Member Nelson's committee.

Are there any items council members would like to have removed from today's consent calendar?

Okay, I do not see any of my colleagues raising their hand virtually or otherwise, so.

Hearing none, I move to adopt the consent calendar.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded to adopt the consent calendar.

Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll on the adoption of the consent calendar?

Council Member Sawant?

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Peterson?

Yes.

Council President Juarez?

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The consent calendar is indeed adopted.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the consent calendar?

All right, let's move into committee reports today.

We have three items and the first item comes out of the Economic Development, Technology and City Light Committee.

Madam Clerk, will you please read item one into the record?

The report of the Economic Development Technology and City Light Committee, Agenda Item 1, Resolution 32099, a resolution establishing the shared city and community goals and strategies of the future of Seattle economy investment agenda.

As city policy and a critical foundation for economic development work in Seattle, the committee recommends the council adopt as amended the resolution.

Thank you.

Council Member Nelson, the floor is yours.

Thank you very much.

This resolution endorses the investment agenda set forth in the 2nd, part of the future of Seattle economy report, which was developed through an intentional and community driven process to identify priority investments that will advance his mission to build an inclusive economy in the city of Seattle.

And the future of Seattle economy investment recommendations will guide the expenditure of the portion of jumpstart funds allocated for economic revitalization.

I put this forward just to provide some, some more information about the principles and the policy rationale underpinning.

the items in OED's budget that we'll be seeing this fall.

And when I say that, I mean the specific budget items, because they are not spelled out in this resolution.

So I am asking for support.

This came out of the committee with unanimous support.

And before we got to this item, In that committee, we had presentations on the on the specifics of the 5 pillars of the future of Seattle economy.

And then also a very in depth.

Conversation discussion presentation of the work of 1 of the pillars, which was building BIPOC wealth.

So.

in community.

So that was really interesting and I encourage anyone that wants to know more about the report and the specific ways that some of these principles are already being put to use to benefit individual small businesses.

So that's all I've got.

Thank you very much for your consideration and your vote.

Thank you Councilor Nelson.

I'm going to open the floor and I see Councilor Morales.

The floor is yours.

Go ahead.

I lost my framing here.

I'm not sure if this is the appropriate time yet, Council President, but I do have an amendment that I'd like to present.

This is the appropriate time for you to move.

I move amending Resolution 32099 as presented on Amendment A in the agenda.

I second.

So it has been moved and seconded as presented on the agenda.

And now, Council Member Morales, you can speak to your amendment.

Great.

Thank you very much.

I do want to thank Council Member Nelson for bringing this resolution.

My office has been working on these community wealth building, generational wealth building strategies for quite some time, both with OED and now with the Department of Neighborhoods, so I'm really excited that there is kind of department-wide collaboration happening on these issues.

And I want to say it's really important that any community wealth or generational wealth building strategy that we work on are really cohesive across departments and also that they're community driven strategies as well.

So the purpose behind all of this work is not just about addressing gentrification and redlining and similar issues, although that is definitely an important piece.

But what we're really trying to aim for is to be intentional as a city in repairing the harm that those policies have done, that those policies caused, particularly to communities of color.

The whole point of community wealth building is to close the racial wealth gap.

It's not about wealth building general, and it's not even just about addressing the consequences of past policies, but it's about actively working to dismantle the structures that perpetuate equality.

So we've seen how communities of color suffer significantly, particularly, for example, during the last economic downturn.

So as we rebuild the economy, we need to be intentional in our efforts and really develop strategies that ensure prosperity for everybody.

I also want to acknowledge that there is a history of systemic injustice of discrimination that's really contributed to the racial wealth gap that we're talking about and to repair the harm caused by these historic injustices, we have to be intentional about how we uplift and how we provide more opportunity to communities that have historically been left out and not given opportunities.

So as we move towards this as a city, implementing these kinds of policies, developing these strategies, It's important to keep in mind that generational wealth building is a long-term commitment.

There's no quick fix here, but it's a journey and it requires really sustained dedication and collaboration between our city departments and the communities that we serve.

And I'm really excited to see this work moving forward across departments.

So thank you again to Council Member Nelson and to the departments who are doing this really exciting work.

Thank you, Council Member Morales.

Are there any comments regarding the amendment, amendment A, as proposed by Council Member Morales?

Okay, I do not see, oh, Council Member Nelson.

I believe that, I don't have it right in front of me here, but I believe it changes community-informed to community-driven, is that the case?

That's right, yeah.

Okay, well, I would say that I take that as a completely friendly amendment, and in fact, a quote in the press release that is going to be going out soon will have, it uses that exact terminology.

And I also want to say that I believe if Director McIntyre were here, he would agree 100% with you.

And one of the things we talked about at length in committee was the need to de-silo the work that individual departments are are doing separately, which don't advance in a cohesive way, I think shared principles that we all have.

So thank you very much for making that clear in your comments.

And I don't know if one of the amendments that we did have in committee was from Council Member Herbold, which also strengthened the collaboration across departments by adding a couple of departments.

So thank you very much for bringing this forward.

Okay, with that, will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of the amendment?

Amendment A. Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Peterson?

Yes.

Council President Juarez?

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries.

The amendment is adopted and now the amended resolution is before council.

So are there any further comments on the amended resolution before I have Council Member Nelson close this out?

Okay, Council Member Sawant.

Thank you.

First of all, I urge everybody who is here to fight for rent control to stay, please.

The agenda is not very long, so we will get to it very soon.

And also, we're going to be doing a rally afterwards, after the vote.

So please stay.

Because we need to keep getting organized.

Okay.

Go ahead.

Go ahead.

As for this resolution, I will be voting yes, but I do have some comments.

This resolution contains a long list of lofty aspirations upholding small businesses in name and building wealth in communities of color in name.

Of course, the reality is that the ideas, if put into action, would do none of those things.

The history of capitalism has not been a history of building wealth for working class people.

It has been the opposite.

Year after year, we've seen the gap between the rich and the poor grow wider, with the wealth of the world becoming concentrated to unprecedented degrees into fewer hands.

Even during a global crisis like COVID, when billions of lives were ravaged, the rich got richer.

So I want to caution that this resolution makes wildly false promises about the impacts on marginalized communities of its business investments.

The only thing that has successfully built wealth or more appropriately a modicum of increase in the standard of living for marginalized communities and working people as a whole is worker struggle, organizing unions, going on strikes, building mass movements.

Union membership is the greatest predictor for working-class living standards, especially for black and other working people of color in America.

The text of this resolution speaks in generalities about many things, and because of that, it contains some concerning phrases.

Twice the resolution refers to, quote unquote, public-private partnerships, which I do not support.

As I have said in the past, in the so-called public-private partnerships, the public pays and the private shareholders, who are wealthy individuals, profit.

And you will notice that public-private partnerships virtually never lift up small business.

I mean, I'm talking about the struggling small businesses, not medium businesses who call themselves small, like medium landlords calling themselves small.

Public-private partnerships virtually never lift up the people who are actually struggling.

Instead, public-private partnerships have been a tool for big business to profit more than usual off the public, especially by replacing public services that have been won by previous movements, especially labor, while masquerading as something benign.

What is particularly insidious about the expansive language in this resolution is the repeated use of the phrases like wealth building and generational wealth, et cetera, et cetera, in relation to the communities of color at a time when there has never been a period in history, let alone in our lifetimes, where working people of color have not lost more ground than they had in the past.

And not only is there no prospect under the status quo of capitalism for working people, not to mention communities of color, to build any wealth unless we fight back, we have actually lost ground because the pillaging corporations, the billionaires, they have become richer at our expense.

As we know, capitalism is a zero-sum game.

When they're getting richer, we know they're stealing from us.

This resolution also emphasizes using the 15% of revenue raised from the Amazon tax, which our movement won in 2020, that is intended for economic recovery.

And to be clear, this is consistent with how those funds were allocated in the law, with funds also going to the Green New Deal and the majority of the funds to building social housing.

All of that is fine.

However, I want to caution that every year since our movement won the Amazon tax, The political establishment, including progressive Democrats, have used those funds to cover general budget shortfalls rather than increasing big business taxes to cover those needs.

I want to be clear that this resolution emphasizing economic recovery funding is not an excuse to raid Amazon tax funds intended for social housing or the Green New Deal.

Again, just to make it very clear to members of the public, this is just a resolution.

It's just words.

I'm voting yes, but I want to go on record with my cautionary points so that when tomorrow there are betrayals, we are clear which side we have been on.

As I said, this resolution speaks in very general terms, overwhelmingly using a word salad of aspirational language about supporting small businesses and communities of color.

I, of course, support those aspirations and therefore will not stand in the way of this resolution and will vote yes, but I want to warn that this resolution is making promises that I do not believe it will fulfill.

I'll also say in closing, bottom line, If council members are waxing eloquent about this resolution but are planning to vote no on rent control, then you are doing the opposite of wealth building for communities of color.

Thank you, Council Member Sawant.

Council Member Nelson, do you want to close us out before we go to a vote?

Well, sure.

I just can't resist responding a little bit to this.

To those comments, which were predictable, but I have to say that unless you were in the committee meeting and could have heard Donna Moody, who is the owner of Cafe Marjorie and also one of the chairs of the Supporting WMB and Small Business Advisory Group of the Future of Seattle Economy, Uh, stakeholdering process, or if you had been there in the following and heard what she said about how these investments actually do help.

Or if you had heard Micaiah Pollard of the, who is the owner of the MLK commissary, which supports about 20. existing small businesses and provides mentorship and space for other businesses in Southeast Seattle.

She had a lot to say, as well as Sonia and Sergio, who are the owners of La Union Studio, which again, it's an interior design studio, but they also provide jobs and training to people who are interested in this field and also who need their services.

So I just urge you to listen to the real worlds of the people who have been helped by one of the pillars, which is the building BIPOC community well, and what the actual real life benefits have been on them and their lives and their communities.

and that's all I've got to say, thanks.

Thank you.

Okay, so we had the original resolution.

It was amended with Council Member Morales' amendment.

That amendment passed.

We had some comments.

Council Member Nelson has now closed us out.

So Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll on the adoption of the resolution as amended?

Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Peterson?

Aye.

Council President Ores?

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The resolution is adopted as amended.

So Madam Clerk, let's see.

I'm sorry, I got off script here.

It's adopted as amended and the Chair will sign it.

And Madam Clerk, please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.

All right, let's move on to item number two.

This is a matter coming out of the Public Safety and Human Services Committee, which is chaired by Council Member Herbold.

Madam Clerk, can you please read item two into the record?

The report of the Public Safety and Human Services Committee agenda item two, Council Bill 120580, an ordinance relating to app-based worker labor standards.

Establishing labor standards on deactivation protections for app-based workers working In Seattle, and amending sections of the Municipal Code, the committee recommends the bill pass as amended.

Thank you.

Council Member Herbold.

Thank you, Madam President.

I move to propose Council Bill 120580 to August 8, 2023. Second.

Thank you so much.

May I address the delay?

Yes.

Thank you so much.

We're excited to move this bill out of committee to full council for a vote today, but we did receive some recent requests that will require a little more additional time.

We're gonna be bringing forward an amendment at the request of the network companies, workers advocates, and the mayor's office.

This amendment will be responsive to requests from several committee members, Mayor Harrell's administration, and the network companies to raise the threshold requirement for protections, but in a way that incorporates feedback from workers.

This amendment is under review by the Office of Labor Standards and the law department, and we've shared drafts with the stakeholders and council members.

We hope to have that final amendment language available to share soon, and I'll be ready for discussion and vote with the rest of the ordinance at the next council meeting.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Are there any comments regarding Councilmember Herbold's motion to postpone this till August 8th, our next council meeting?

I'm not seeing any Councilmember Herbold, so we're going to go to a vote.

All right.

Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll on the motion to postpone Council Bill 120580 to August 8th?

Councilmember Sawant?

Yes.

Councilmember Strauss?

Yes.

Councilmember Herbold?

Yes.

Councilmember Lewis?

Yes.

Councilmember Morales?

Yes.

Councilmember Nelson?

Aye.

Councilmember Peterson?

Aye.

Council President Ores?

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries and Council Bill 120580 is postponed to our next council meeting, which is August 8th.

All right.

So, We are gonna move on to item number three, and this is out of the Sustainability and Renters' Rights Committee, and this is Council Member Sawant's matter.

But Madam Clerk, will you please read item number three into the record?

The report of the Sustainability and Renters' Rights Committee, Agenda Item 3, Council Bill 120606, an ordinance relating to tenant protections, establishing rent control provisions, regulating residential rent increases, establishing a rent control commission and district rent control boards to authorize rent control exemptions, establishing enforcement provisions, adding new chapters and amending chapters of the Seattle Municipal Code.

The committee recommendation with city council do not pass the council bill.

Thank you.

Council Member Sawant, as chair of the committee, the floor is yours.

Thank you, President Juarez.

Just to share with everyone the process, just so everybody knows how it's going to go.

I'm going to speak, President Juarez will open it up for comments from other council members, which I hope they will speak as to what their position is.

And then I will make closing remarks, and then I will make a motion for the bill.

So that's how it'll go.

This is the bill to- Thank you.

Sorry?

No, I said thank you.

Oh, thank you.

This is the bill to create rent control in Seattle without corporate loopholes, effective as soon as the Democrats and Republicans end the statewide ban on rent control.

As the clerk reported in committee, Council Members Nelson, Lewis, and Juarez voted no, with only Council Member Morales and myself voting yes.

However, as I explained at that time, The committee vote is only a recommendation, and it is the vote of the full council here that is legally binding.

This bill serves three important purposes.

First, it demonstrates what a good rent control policy should look like.

Whenever renters fight for rent control, first the big landlord and real estate lobbies try to stop them, and then if that fails, they fill the rent control policy with massive corporate loopholes to try and make the policy work less effectively so that they can then claim that it does not work, just like the ruling class has steadily attacked public school funding to use that as a justification to attack teachers and other public sector unions and then promote charter schools and union busting.

Cities in California have rent control, but in 1995, California legislators, both Democrat and Republican, in the pockets of wealthy landlords, passed what was called the Costa-Hawkins Act.

The Costa-Hawkins Act was a historic and shameful attack on rent control laws in the state.

It removed most rental housing from the rent control law.

It also allowed landlords to raise the rents when the units became vacant, which is the very harmful corporate loophole called vacancy decontrol.

The result has been shockingly higher rents in the majority of rental housing that used to be affordable before Costa-Hawkins was passed.

Our bill is free of all those loopholes.

It has vacancy control, it limits rent increases to inflation, and it covers all the rental housing in Seattle regardless of type, size, or building date.

This sets a standard, and Democrat and Republican elected officials will have to answer to this standard.

The second important purpose of this bill is it will put real pressure on the state Democrats in Olympia to lift the ban on rent control.

In the Renters' Rights Committee on the 21st of July, Councilmember Lewis said, quote, I have not seen any, I haven't seen any public support from our delegation, he's referring to the state delegation of Democrats, in regards to this being a strategy that they support to get a repeal to the preemption, end quote.

This is referring to the statewide ban on rent control.

Essentially, this is arguing that the Democratic state legislators really want to end the ban on rent control, but simply do not think that this bill, our bill, will help.

This is political gaslighting.

The state ban on rent control The state ban on rent control has been in effect for 42 years, longer than most of you have been alive.

For most of that time, the legislature has been under the Democratic administration, just as it is right now, and they have never, ever brought a bill to lift the ban for a vote.

Guess who chooses what bills are called for a vote?

It is the same Democrats who do not like our strategy, supposedly.

This afternoon, former Democratic State House Speaker Frank Chopp was in Seattle's City Hall lobby.

For years, Chopp was personally responsible for choosing to never put lifting the unjust state ban on rent control up for a vote.

Once, in a campaign interview, he justified it by saying that Seattle has supposedly never requested it.

We're not stupid, and we know when we are being given the runaround.

The truth is that the Democratic Party does not like this strategy of a trigger bill precisely because it is effective.

well that if we win today it will inject huge confidence in the movement and that it will be historic as a step forward to take the movement to Olympia.

I have not seen more news articles about the views of Democratic state legislators on rent control in the context of our bill these past weeks than I have seen in years.

Our movement has already forced into the light of day the complicity of state Democrats with the big landlord and real estate lobbies, and they need to know that our movement will not tolerate their hypocrisy.

We're forcing Democrats on this council to cast a vote today, and we will see what they do.

The third important purpose of this bill is, if passed by council today, is it will put into Seattle law comprehensive rent control protections without corporate loopholes that will actually go into effect once our movement forces state legislators to end the ban.

Because the reality is the ban on rent control will not last forever.

Maybe sooner, maybe later, but movements of renters, workers, and union members will defeat it.

Mass movements have ebbs and flows, but history shows that they can grow with explosive force, and what renters are being subjected to in Washington state and nationally today is truly a tinderbox.

Prominent Wall Street economists, like Paul Donovan, who is UBS Global Wealth Management's chief economist, have themselves been forced to admit that the massive cost of living crisis is at least partly the result of corporations raising prices simply because they can and no one is stopping them.

In other words, the inflation that we are experiencing is really greedflation because of the greed of the wealthy.

The most stunning example of greedflation is the alleged price fixing that corporate landlords have carried out, as alleged by multiple major lawsuits.

The Seattle-focused lawsuit notes that these landlords today control roughly 60% of the apartments in the city's key areas.

In fact, though, the reality is far worse than that.

Not only is it true that giant corporations like Invitation Homes, Essex, other corporations that Jonathan Rosenblum mentioned, AMH, Avalon Bay, not only is it true that they own the majority of the rental homes in our city, On top of that, these big corporations in turn are owned by a very few Wall Street behemoths that own trillions and trillions of dollars such as Vanguard and BlackRock, Norges Bank and Geode Capital Investments.

These are the same, some of the same Wall Street monsters that also own the railroad companies that were joined by Biden and the Democrats in breaking the railroad worker strike and are responsible for multiple ongoing rail disasters like the recent one in East Palestine, Ohio.

So the Democrats who vote no today are, make no mistake, scandalously representing these trillion dollar corporations.

It is as simple as that.

According to the real estate industry's own figures, shortage of apartments is not the problem.

The problem is shortage of affordable housing.

Seattle's apartment vacancy rate is over 6%.

That's close to 11,000 empty apartments, which is more than the number of people experiencing homelessness on any given day in our city.

So it's clear we need both rent control and a further expansion of social housing by increasing the Amazon tax.

Rent control is extremely popular among working people.

A 2020 statewide opinion poll found that 71% of likely Washington voters support rent control.

71%.

And I disagree with that landlord who says because something is popular, it shouldn't be done.

Well, that's democracy.

That's actually democracy.

Control legislation would not affect any small landlord who isn't already gouging their tenants.

But if you as a landlord are exploiting your tenant, then I don't care if you're big or small.

You don't have the right to exploit anyone, let alone to profit from it.

The statistics, however, show that it is corporate landlords, not small landlords, who own most of the rental units, and they are the ones doing most of the exploiting.

If political outcomes under capitalism were simply based on statistical evidence, then we should be winning this rent control bill many times over.

But politics under capitalism, as we know, is not about statistics or how much truth you have on your side.

It is about the balance of power between the classes, between the capitalist class and the working class.

That's what this comes down to.

And that is why part of our job is to expose those who betray us.

Councilmember Lewis calls himself a progressive and Labour Democrat, yet he outrageously voted no in the Renters' Rights Committee.

If he votes no today again, then rank-and-file workers should be asking, seriously, what does it even mean to say, Councilmember Lewis, that you support Labour?

Do you have any accountability at all to working people who are barely getting by?

Councilmember Mosqueda calls herself a progressive and a labor democrat, yet she could not bother to show up for a vote that is of so much consequence to so many who are vulnerable.

As I said in my email to Councilmember Mosqueda, which I never got a response to, and as hundreds of people have said in their emails, yes, we understand scheduling conflicts happen, but to quote workers' strikeback activist Sasha Somer, who just said, come on.

Not all meetings are created equal.

We're not demanding that council members attend every meeting, but our homeless neighbors are dying, and more and more people are getting evicted or facing housing stability.

All a council member needed to do was to call in over Zoom for a few minutes.

This shows the priorities.

What was a priority for Council Member Mosqueda?

It was leading the way in repealing the pandemic hazard pay for grocery workers.

And last but not least, in my comments, I'll stop soon, but just one thing I wanted to add is the ruling class uses debating tricks all the time.

One common debating trick they use is deflect the debate when they cannot win the argument and when facts, statistics, and plain truth belie their blatantly false claims.

That about sums up what the arguments from landlords and every single Democrat and Republican has been, which is there are no facts or truth on their side.

There's no logic on their side.

What they do have on their side is the powerful landlords and the Wall Street real estate balance and other powerful people that they are speaking for.

So let's make sure that we keep fighting.

Let's see what happens with the vote.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Sawant.

Before we open the floor, I would like to say on behalf of Council Member Sawant, Council Member Mosqueda, what was the date on that?

The 18th?

Council Member Mosqueda was working with myself as well.

And on July 18th, it actually asked that she be excused.

So we knew that it was coming.

And as you know, we asked if we could move everything, this bill to August 8th, because I too wanted it to be on August 8th because I had a commitment today as well.

Hers was a little bit more different.

And so for those reasons, I want the public to know that Councilor Mosqueda was legitimately excused.

She told us all almost three weeks ago We try to move this bill to the eighth customer want.

And of course, you did not want it moved to the eighth.

You wanted it heard today, Tuesday.

So we accommodated you as the chair, even though this item failed in committee.

So we were accommodating you and following the rules.

So I would ask that you not impugn

that the clerk told us that this was the scheduled day for the vote.

I don't appreciate you implying that somehow this was not according to the rules.

Okay, well, I'm not implying.

What I'm sharing is I asked if your office would be willing, according to the rules, To move it to August 8, and my understanding from your office was, you would like to keep it on the 1st.

So, I accommodate, I'm not implying that anything else, but that, and those are according to the rules.

You are correct.

So, with that, yes, with that.

Okay, so.

Now we are going to open the floor to our other colleagues, and then I will let the sponsor have a closing remark, and then the sponsor, I believe, will be moving it.

Are there any comments from the floor before we hand it off or back to Council Member Sawant for closing?

Let's start with Council Member Morales, and then we will have Council Member Nelson.

Great, thank you.

Council President, I will make this brief.

As I said in committee when I voted in favor of this bill, I do support rent control here in Seattle and across the state.

As has been said, broad rent control with vacancy control is something that we don't have yet here in this country.

So when we hear comparisons to other cities, those comparisons are in a really different context.

In New York, in San Francisco, really limited the protection that this could afford to few people, and so it isn't providing the kind of protection that we would hope something like rent control could do.

However, in places like Vienna, in Paris, rent control is broadly applied, and it's coupled with robust, expanded social housing to bring prices down, in the case of Paris, and to keep prices affordable in the case of Vienna.

That's why we need rent control on all units under all circumstances and why we need to legalize it for all renters.

And it's also why we need to couple it with, as Council Member Sawant said, robust affordable housing options like universally affordable social housing.

So, this trigger law won't bring us rent control today, but it can help build momentum for the statewide movement, not only repeal the state's 40-year ban on rent control, but to legalize it so that all renters have this really simple protection.

I am going to be voting yes today, and I'll continue to work with our state champions, like Nicole Macri, to fight for a full statewide legalization.

That's all.

Thank you.

Oh, thank you very much.

And I think it's been a 42 year ban, but who's counting?

Yeah.

All right.

So, I see customer herbals hand up.

Wait, I'm sorry customer Nelson.

You were 1st.

I'm sorry.

Your hand was down.

It went back down.

I didn't know if you would do that.

So, are you still in the queue?

Yeah.

Okay.

So counselor Nelson, and then customer herbal.

Thank you very much.

I didn't articulate the reasons for my opposition to this proposal during the July 21st committee meeting, because we were running over time and we had a hard stop at 1230. so I'll do so now.

I am concerned that this proposal will decrease existing housing supply because rental revenues won't keep pace with increasing maintenance costs and property taxes, which.

will result in housing providers either just selling their properties or converting them into condominiums, which has been documented elsewhere in research cited in the central staff memo.

It'll also, even worse, I believe, drive Seattle's mom and pop landlords who are already struggling with with the unintended consequences of some of the state and city regulations that have been passed and also lost revenue from the eviction moratorium, I'm concerned that it'll just drive them out of the market.

And that's really bad because they provide the lion's share of our more affordable housing or below market rate housing.

That that we have, and especially the single family homes that are available to lower income families.

So, this proposal also will impose rent control on new construction, which is exempted in most, if not all jurisdictions in the US with rent control, according to the central staff memo.

And that's because when it was practiced during the 1st, generation of rent control in the 50s and 60s, it did result in a slowing of new housing production.

And that's why it was abandoned for different forms of rent control later on.

And even in St. Paul in 2022, reversed its policy of imposing rent control on new construction in 2022. And so I just believe that the last thing that we should be doing during a housing affordability crisis is discourage new housing production at any affordability level.

And what we should be doing instead, of course, is preserving existing housing and enabling providers to maintain them in good condition.

and also remove barriers to new housing production so that it's easier and faster and less expensive to produce.

That seems clear to me, and I think this proposal will take us in the wrong direction.

And regardless of what happens in Olympia when they may or may not lift the preemption on rent control for local jurisdictions, The impacts of this legislation, if it were to pass, would be felt immediately.

And that's because housing providers of existing units and also people that build or develop or invest in new construction will see the risks immediately and make decisions about what to do with their properties.

And that will, I believe, bring downtown recovery to a screeching halt and also impact other neighborhoods as well that need more housing.

So that is why I am voting no today.

And so I could add other reasons, but those are my primary reasons for my opposition.

Thanks.

Thank you, Council Member Nelson.

Council Member Herbold.

Thank you, Madam President.

So first, I want to speak to the opponents of rent regulation laws.

There are over 200 cities across the country with some form of rent regulation, and each city has tailored their laws to fit their housing markets.

The main arguments against rent regulations are that it, A, leads to high vacancy rates, B, slows new construction, and C, results in deterioration and abandonment, but economist Philip Weitzman, a former director of research and policy with the New York City Department of Housing, Preservation and Development has explained that the existing empirical literature does not take into account the rise of second-generation moderate rent controls.

A review of cities with these later laws shows that most of the arguments used against regulating rent are associated with these strict first-generation rent control laws like the one we have before us today.

In New York City, there are 38,000 rent-controlled apartments compared to about 1 million rent-stabilized apartments.

The term rent-regulated encompasses both rent-controlled and rent-stabilized units.

Landlords say that rent control doesn't work.

I've never heard of a person living in a rent control unit or rent stabilized unit moving out because it didn't work.

To the contents of this particular bill, this bill does not exempt newly constructed housing.

to address concerns that rent control laws result in new construction slowing.

Most cities exempt newly constructed buildings.

That's what I referred to earlier when I referred to the economist Philip Weitzman's statements.

The old generation were very strict rent control laws like the version that we have before us today.

Most recent example is council member Nelson mentioned that we learned about was St. Paul, which very recently passed a no exemptions rent control law, and then saw a 30% reduction in building permits, where nearby Minneapolis saw a 30% increase in building permits.

So now they've gone back and amended rent control law in St. Paul to create an exemption for new buildings.

Myths and Facts document at the sponsor's own web page says, recently UC Berkeley researchers have found that the six cities that had rent control in the Bay Area actually produced more housing units per capita than cities without rent control.

But again, nearly all cities have new construction exemptions.

There's a lot to dislike about the California Costa-Hawkins Act, but one of the elements of the Costa-Hawkins Act is a new construction exemption.

So the six cities referred to in this research all have new construction exemptions.

In other words, the sponsor's own research supports new construction exemptions.

I think it would have been better if this bill considered exempting new constructions and created incentives for owners of new buildings to participate For instance, in New York City, owners of new buildings are exempt, but they largely opt in voluntarily in exchange for tax incentives.

I might have offered an amendment to this legislation, but for the sponsor's constant admonishment, amendments to water down the policy were not welcome.

feel that when sponsors are browbeat to not offer amendments, often policy and progress both suffer.

I was a tenant organizer with the Tenants Union for four years.

When I chaired the committee with oversight of civil rights issues on this council, I was able to work with advocates to mobilize and successfully sponsor and pass fair chance housing, source of income discrimination, first in time protections, five separate bills related to Washington Cans losing home report, and a law that broadened reasonable accommodations required in housing.

I know how important it is to lift the state exemption that bans rent regulations.

But I just don't see how legislation that fails in Seattle today would build a movement of support for change in Olympia.

The sponsor wanted the council to pass a bill that would build momentum for change in Olympia.

He might have considered reworking the legislation when it became apparent it would fail.

I'm also really concerned that this trigger law actually hurts the efforts of legislators and tenants' rights.

to lift the preemption.

This bill, if passed, would broadcast to all of the opponents of legislative change in the state legislature what version of rent control to continue to preempt.

Even worse, Seattle's law would be used as a reason to oppose limiting the preemption.

Most recent rent stabilization bills in Olympia did not propose lifting the preemption.

Instead, they would have created statewide rent regulations.

I'm also disappointed and sorry that those bills have not received a vote.

I think we should be working with the sponsors to discuss what effective advocacy looks like.

But if that is the approach that the legislature continues to pursue, the bill before us today will never be enacted.

I support lifting the preemption.

I support instituting laws regulating rent.

I will be voting against this bill today.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Herbold.

Thank you for the historical look back and forward.

Are there any other comments before I hand it over to Councilor Sawant to close this out?

Okay, I do not see any.

So Council Member Sawant, I believe you have some closing remarks and you also have something to say for us regarding the movie.

Council Member Sawant.

Council President, I don't think she heard you.

It's pretty noisy in chambers.

Okay, we can't hear you, so we need people to allow.

I haven't spoken yet.

I haven't.

Oh, I know.

Okay.

I'm sorry.

I was looking at the screen.

I thought you were speaking and the clerk just said that she didn't know if you're speaking.

So go ahead.

I think the comments that have been made more or less.

prove my point earlier that we don't have a choice but to build our forces of the working class and especially doing that independent of the Democrats and Republicans.

I appreciate Council Member Morales' comments and also her commitment to vote yes as she voted in committee.

On the whole, however, what this, I mean, if I was, you know, I used to be a professor, if I was giving a grade to the Democratic Party for standing up for working people and the poor, what grade would we give them?

Absolutely.

I want to say, Council Member Herbold, I am extremely disappointed that you not only are not going to support this bill, even though you have been a tenant advocate yourself, which does not absolve you in any way, it only makes it worse if you say you're a tenant advocate.

But also, to engage in such dishonest comments that, oh, my own frequently asked questions document proves that the strong rent control bill legislation does not work, that is absolutely not true.

What is true is that despite what is true, what you are referring to is actually the analysis is exactly the opposite of what you're saying.

The analysis is that even with those corporate loopholes, rent control has been a lifeline for millions of people.

That's what's true.

Not that that works better, but that even that actually works and is better than not having any rent control.

Obviously, I have made it very clear which side I am on, but I don't understand how any council member who is an independent elected official can say that they didn't bring an amendment because of my admonishment.

Bring any amendment you want.

Nobody stopped you.

If watering it down was the only way you were going to vote yes, then at least you should have done that.

Of course, I would have voted against any watering down, but it is dishonest to say that because of Council Member Salman's admonishment, you didn't bring the supposed amendments that would have then allowed you to vote yes.

It's very important to quote from, and I won't be able to quote everything because there are so many people and organizations that support this legislation.

I want to say a big thank you to everybody.

I won't be able to, as I said, mention everybody's commentary in this, but I want to mention some relevant ones.

an extract from the Real Change Advocacy Department that strongly supported this rent control legislation.

Real Change is an organization that supports our homeless neighbors.

They say, beyond the individual level, on a systemic level, rent control aids in the development of social housing and other affordable housing by helping to lower the speculation of land and property prices.

There is evidence from cities such as Vienna that has shown the presence of rent control not only improving the lives of residents, but also making it easier for the city's municipal housing developers to acquire land for lower prices, allowing for faster growth of the social housing sector.

Many of these rent control measures that we see around the country and around the world, they were much stronger to begin with, and then they were watered down from attack after attack by corporate real estate and the Democrats and Republicans who aid them.

So there is no truth, as a matter of fact, no statistical evidence that proves Council Member Herbold's points.

I'm sorry, that's just not true.

I want to say that the Tenants Union of Washington, which represents renters across the state, has also strongly supported, all their branches statewide have supported this legislation because they all correctly understand that if we can win something in Seattle, it can actually provide huge momentum statewide.

I also...

Just mention many of the unions, AFG 3197, also UAW 4121, which represents workers at the University of Washington.

Again, a very short extract from their letter.

They say, a shocking 80% of our members are rent burdened.

These are people who are on their way to get their PhDs or already have their PhDs and are postdocs.

80% of them are rent burdened, and in their survey, 22 respondents reported experiencing homelessness at UW.

UAW 4121 is another organization, as I said, that is strongly supporting our bill.

I think we have to be very clear.

that regardless of, you know, despite all the truth that we have on our side, we see Democrats again and again saying that passing this legislation will hurt efforts.

As Dan Roach correctly said, actually, the historical evidence shows exactly the opposite.

When Seattle's working people lead, it puts enormous pressure on the state Democrats to pass progressive change.

One very important example.

There are many examples.

I won't be able to mention all of them today.

But you know what one really important example was, which Dan just shared with us?

$15 an hour.

When we were fighting for 15, we heard the same kind of fear-mongering, and yet we kept fighting, and we won.

And then what happened?

Statewide, wages went up dramatically as well.

Same with all the other renters' rights bills we have won, including just-cause eviction.

We won it here.

It put pressure on the state to finally act.

So ultimately, we have to be very clear that whether Democrats like Mosqueda simply don't even bother to show up Or Democrats like Lewis and Nelson, who have made pro-corporate landlord statements.

Or Council Member Herbold, who says she supports renters, but she makes technocratic objections to supporting this.

It doesn't matter what their reason is.

The Democratic Party is not on our side.

As a socialist, I'm going to come back to that point in a second, but I just wanted to say as a socialist, I believe that housing should be a human right, but capitalism turns everything into a commodity, which means that economists discuss issues like rent control, not in terms of human beings and our needs, but instead in terms of investor profits.

The big real estate lobby would like us to believe that those two things, human needs and investor profit, go hand in hand.

But in reality, they are in total conflict.

Great investment opportunities for a few mean rapacious exploitation of the many, soaring housing costs, ballooning rents, and homeownership skyrocketing out of reach for most workers.

Seattle has seen unparalleled development alongside rampant homelessness.

We've seen Seattle be the construction crane capital for three years running, and yet they say, oh, we need to build more, and that's why housing is not available for people.

No, actually, housing is not available because it's not affordable.

And the real, actual housing providers, also known as our construction workers, many of them can't afford to live here because of the rents.

They build the buildings, make the profits for the investors, and then they're forced to leave the city for the night.

We need social housing, not just for a tiny fraction of people in desperate situations, obviously we need that, but we need it for the vast majority of renters so that workers are no longer subject to the predatory nature of big landlords.

And in fact, as a socialist, I would say we need democratically controlled housing, controlled by workers for workers.

Once for-profit landlords control the rental housing market, we desperately need rent control as one of the most important defenses of renters' rights.

So we have to keep fighting.

And as I said, right after this vote, we will have a rally.

I'll just end by saying that if we take any lesson from today, it should be that the Democratic Party is not on our side.

We should not hold our breath that someday, sometime, they will do good things for us.

Important lesson from today, we have seen progressive Democrats betray us.

It's not...

it's not been the first time.

But if it took today for you to open your eyes, then I will consider this a job well done.

Let's make sure that we keep fighting, but we have to build an independent party for the working class.

Without that, this battle is a non-starter.

And I will say, I love animals, including elephants and donkeys and mules.

But I agree, I'm not joking, I really do.

But I agree with those who chanted, dump the elephant, dump the ass, we need a party for the working class.

I'm done with my comments.

Should I make the motion now?

Yes.

Thank you.

I was just going to ask you, is there a motion you would like to make?

Thank you.

I move to pass Council Bill 120606. Can I get a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It has been moved and seconded.

All right.

Thank you, Council Member Sawant.

Thank you, Council Member Alice.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss?

No.

Council Member Herbold?

No.

Council Member Lewis?

No.

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

Council Member Nelson.

No.

Council Member Peterson.

No.

Council President Juarez.

Before I vote, I want to thank Council Member Sawant for bringing this trigger law to us.

And she has been working on this since 2015. And I just want to state for the record that of all the laws that have gone forward, the four that did get to full council, all four of them were passed unanimously.

That was the supports lifting this.

We did a resolution.

They did a resolution.

I wasn't here.

The Council Member Sawant was here.

A resolution supporting the lifting of preemption of rent control.

Probably time to revisit that resolution.

The second one was establishing rent control for rent increases greater than the rate of inflation that did not make it to committee.

Excuse me on that one.

The other one was regulating rent increases on properties that do not meet basic maintenance standards that passed.

And the other two, and I think Council Member Lewis was in charge of this one, Temporarily restricting increases in commercial rents and amending that same bill for commercial rents above.

And those passed as well.

So from 2015 to now, there's been 10 attempts.

And of the 10, a lot of them did not get out of committee.

But those that got to full council, all four of them passed.

And I don't want to go through a whole laundry list of all the rights and renters rights that have passed.

And customers, I just I just want to say one other thing.

Without going through all the rules and impugning the character of your colleagues, all of us today wanted to hear what you have to say.

And we're very respectful in letting you speak.

And I want to thank her for her wise words and her long history working in this area.

And one of the comments that you had made and I had seen this and I think I'd heard I think you and I may have even talked about it, but This trigger law is different than the $15 minimum wage.

It's different than the workers rights and protections that this council and the former council passed and which you passed.

Thank you very much.

And like things like paid family leave.

And the big difference is, is that there is no state law that prohibits these policies.

And I know you and I have talked about this offline and we agree.

And I still say that this 42 year old law is unjust.

This is a trigger law.

I don't think we, I don't want to dismiss the actions that Representative Macri and Senator Saldana and other state reps have done, taken a run at this in the state legislature.

I don't want to go through, I have a list here of the state laws and every time they've taken a run at rent control, actual rent control, not a trigger law in Olympia.

So I want to just feel a little bit protective of some of our colleagues who've worked on these issues.

And I do not want to impugn their integrity and their honesty and their commitment.

And I'm hoping that you will still work with us and our counterparts in Olympia to address this 42 year old unjust law, because I do agree with you that it is unjust.

And I do believe and I know from the letters that we've gotten on both sides, I believe localities should have the right to do rent sustainability and stabilization.

If anyone knows their city or county better, it's people at this local level.

And I don't know what that means, but I think Seattle could pass something that would address that.

And hopefully we would bring together, as Councilmember Herbold pointed out, all of those stakeholders that when we did HALA and MHA, and I can make a lot of examples, It has to be a big table to address something unjust like this.

So with that, I will close my comments and my vote is I will not be supporting this bill.

So I'll be voting no.

Thank you.

The count on the vote is two in favor, six opposed.

Hey, the bill does not pass.

Let's move on in our agenda.

So moving on, items removed from the consent calendar.

Nothing was removed from the consent calendar.

Adoption of other resolutions.

I am not aware of any other resolutions that have been introduced.

Other business.

Is there any other business from council members?

This would be the time to see if you need to be excused.

Not seeing any.

OK.

Okay, colleagues, this was a long agenda.

Again, thank all of you, particularly those that called in and those of you that showed up today for public comment.

Thank you all my colleagues that provided comments and gave us more information.

I can never underestimate your passion and this is a tough job and you all showed up and we did our job today.

I can't please everybody, but I know that this is not going to go away and I'm hoping I had a talk with Council Member Herbold offline for a little bit and Council Member Mosqueda.

that we can craft with council members to want a stronger resolution that is much better than the one we saw in 2015 because I think now it's been a long time coming.

So with that, colleagues, this does conclude our items of business and the next regularly scheduled city council meeting will be next Tuesday, August 8th.

And with that, we are adjourned.

Thank you.

Have a good day, everybody.

Recording stopped.

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